SeaGuard worth it?

[RocketRollRebel]

Hey there everyone. I've been flipping through the army book quite a bit considering possibly making a High Elf army but my question is what do you think is their best core choice? Part of me looks at the bargain that spearmen are and I see some potential for blocks of them acting as a nice anvil unit. The other unit I've been looking into is SeaGuard. They are a bit more but seem to be able to do the same job as the spearmen with shooting thrown in. My biggest down side is tho that they cost just 2 pts less than the special choices (after u give them shields). So are they really a great all rounder unit or are you better off going with a bargain unit like spearmen and using the points elsewhere?

Thanks!

[deadmanwade]

I've had mixed luck with seaguard. They usually do ok, but not any better than the other two choices to be honest. If you're using them as spearmen then you'll need a nice big square block of them so you're only going to be firing a couple of bows a turn. If you use them as archers you'll only get 1 rank bonus if you take a charge. For the points you pay you're better with a specialised unit I think. I only break them out in bigger games.

[MUMBLES]

Those spearmen are irritating. Nothing is more disheartening than charging 20 wussy elves and getting 15 attacks at you before you even get to strike. My vote is for the spearmen.

[the drake]

I also have had mixed luck with seaguard. I had a unit once flee from some minatours, regroup and then when the minatours charged the next turn their stand and shoot did enough wounds to finish off one and kill another causing the unit to panic and run (I had regrouped them in a long line 9 wide). I usually just go with archers though as my main battle line consist of a block of phoenix guard ~20, two blocks of white lions (18 and 12) and 2 lion chariots. I like to set up around a hill with 2 rbt and add in those archers and theres 2250 (with chars and whatnot). Its a compact army and it struggles with my usually horrible deployment (which to this day still baffles me...theres not that many units to set up).

Going back to seaguard though, I once heard of someone using nothing but seaguard in a 2250 point game. thats a lot of elves. I also read somewhere, and I agree with this statement, that seaguard are an upgrade for archers not spears. they only cost 1 point more, you lose range, but gain the spears and shields and combat-y-ness. I don't know if that ramble helped any.

[j-orge-287]

A small unit of sea guard-10 is a good number-and a larger unit of spearmen is a good idea. You march up to the enemy with the sea guard far enough behind to support but not that they both flee at once. This works like the empire detachment tactics in planetstrike white dwarf.

[gcsmith]

Ive researched it and for a local tourn trip to warhammer HQ im taking 10 seaguard and sos my partner (1 troop each). I found a Grand tourn winning list which only has seaguard because with HE u need multiple roles. so i guess they are good

[Kloud]

I usually just take archers, an plant em on hill for my core choices. The spearmen are really a lousy choice at all even though they are cheaper.

The Archers with their 30" range, an parked on a hill, will dish out 10 strength 3 attacks every turn, right from turn 1.

10 spearmen will generate 10 strength 3 attacks, only if they get into combat. if you invest in a third rank, and command, you only generate 16 strength 3 attacks in close combat, but you are now a more expensive choice than your archers. Also, hardly anybody is fool enough to charge into the front of a spearmen unit, and with the small number of units compared to your oppenent, it is more likely your spearmen will eventually be flanked.

Seaguard, are basicly archers that can take a little bit of a hit, and stand up a little better in close combat. But that little bit of armour they now have, is often negated by higher strength attacks, and the numerous Armour piercing weapons out there.

However, do not forget, that ALL the ranks behind the first, can shoot at "Large Targets". (seaguard are fantastic Giant killers.)

Also check into it, but all the ranks might be able to shoot at a unit up on a hill as well.

[cypher623]

seaguard are very versatile. they are great against flyers, great for guarding warmachines. Thier 4+ save in cc is fantastic against light cav; skirmishers. Run them in units of 10, spread them out when u want to shoot, block them up if you want them to fight. hand down better than the other two core choices.

[j-orge-287]

They only get 4+ save if they use hand weapons instead of spears. In units of 10 thats only 6 attacks when it could be 11 even after charging which is good against lightly armoured cavalry.

[Kloud]

I'm thinking the 8th Edition Rules might put Seaguard into a whole new level of awesome.